It has become increasingly apparent in recent years that the problems of pests and diseases of man, domestic animals and crops that were once controlled by the use of synthetic pesticides and chemotherapeutic agents have re-emerged in many parts of the world, due to social, legislative and biological change. In both medicine and agroforestry, the development of resistance to pesticides and chemotherapeutic drugs in many micro-organisms is becoming progressively more challenging to humans. As well, treatment of human and animal neoplastic diseases remains to be a great task. There is, therefore, an urgent need for new agrochemicals and new drugs to control diseases effectively. The diversity of microbial products from soil inhabiting microorganisms has been a traditional source for the discovery of new pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals.
One of the recent developments has been the commercialization of a nematode-bacteria combination as biological control agents against insect pests. A crucial feature of this biocontrol agent is that the bacterial symbiont (Xenorhabdus spp. or Photorhabdus spp.) of the nematode produces a wide range of bioactive metabolites including antimicrobial substances that inhibit the growth of bacteria, fungi and yeasts (Webster et al., 2002).
Although there are a limited number of publications on this aspect of the biology of Xenorhabdus spp. and Photorhabdus spp., it has been recognized that bioactive substances are produced by these bacteria. Some of these specific compounds have been isolated, identified and their structures elucidated (Forst and Nealson, 1996). Recently, the cell-free culture broths of Xenorhabdus species and Photorhabdus luminescens were found to be active against many fungi of agricultural and medicinal importance (Chen et al., 1994). Two new classes of antimicrobial substances, nematophin (Webster et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,668) and xenorxides (Webster et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,316,476), were found from these bacterial cultures. As well, xenorxides have been shown to have very strong antineoplastic activity (Webster et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,020,360). As part of the ongoing investigation of these bacteria, the WBI-3001 series, a novel group of chemicals have been found to have extremely potent antibiotic and antineoplastic activities and are the subjects of this invention, Prior art references have not shown the existence of WBI-3001 and the use of WBI-3001 or any operable aspects as antibiotic and/or antineoplastic agents.